U.S. Senator Katie Britt Discusses Dangers of AI Chatbots in Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) participated in a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism hearing today examining some of the harms caused by AI chatbots. She discussed the dangers of adolescent usage, including recent reporting of AI chatbots engaging in 'sensual' chats with minors. Witnesses included Dr. Mitch Prinstein, Chief of Psychology Strategy and Integration for the American Psychological Association, and Robbie Torney, Senior Director of AI Programs at Common Sense Media.

Senator Britt also had the opportunity to hear from three parents whose children either died by suicide or suffered extreme mental health complications after extended interactions with AI chatbots.

Senator Britt began her questioning by providing the jarring statistics on how social media is impacting young people: "You look at the stats, 1 in 3 high school young women … (are) considering death by suicide and 25% (are) making a plan. And you look at all of what's actually happening to our children in high school. You look at what social media and the impacts of that … and then in your written testimony, you stated that 40% of AI apps are used by children are some form of an AI companion app … we're adding an entirely new element to what we know was already challenging. Can you describe some of the dangers with America's youth substituting real human relationships for AI chatbots?"

Dr. Mitch Prinstein responded, "…When you look at the science, it's very clear that our relationships with others and adolescents are actually some of the strongest predictors we have, not just for happiness and satisfaction, but for our salaries, our health, even our mortality is based on the quality of our adolescent social relationships 40 years earlier. Well, now we're swapping out human relationships for relationships with a robot, and the bot is programed to trick people into thinking that they feel, that they care, that they have a relationship with them…This is a crisis for our species."

Senator Britt asserted, "We've never been more connected … but never been further apart."

Dr. Prinstein responded, "You got it."

Senator Britt highlighted Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signing the FOCUS Act into law to prevent the use of cell phones in public schools in the state and the difference this is making in adolescent social connection: "This year in Alabama, the children do not have phones in the classroom, and the teachers have said that it has been remarkable. The shift that has been, number one, the engagement in the classroom back and forth, the asking questions and doing it, but then within the hallways. They said the chatter in the hallways it has just bring has brought joy to their hearts. Hearing them talk to each other in the hall instead of looking down and moving forward."

The Senator asked witness Mr. Robbie Torney, "Can you describe some of the more troubling interactions that you have seen or heard about or know of with chatbots during your research so that the subcommittee can really understand the scope of the problem? I know you mentioned earlier that [AI chatbots] even teach you how to hide this from your parents. And I believe in parental engagement and any anybody that's teaching kids to run away from their parents versus to their parents for conversation and consultation is a real red flag."

Mr. Torney responded, "We've engaged in very rigorous testing of AI chatbots and there has been a range of harmful content that we've seen in testing. Sexual roleplay, illegal sexual scenarios, self-harm, illegal drug-use simulations, you name it … if it's on the internet and it's a harm you can imagine, chatbots will talk about it."

You can view Senator Britt's full line of questioning here.

Senator Britt has been an outspoken advocate for protecting children from the harms of social media, introducing the Kids Off Social Media Act, which would set a minimum age of 13 to use social media platforms and prevent social media companies from feeding algorithmically-targeted content to users under the age of 17, as well as the Stop the Scroll Act, which would create a mental health warning label requirement for social media platforms.

When news broke that Meta chatbots were engaging in flirtatious and romantic roleplay with children, Senator Britt reacted on X, writing, "The growing culture of preying on our kids is OUTRAGEOUS. Meta is allowing bots to hold 'sensual' chats with CHILDREN!! Are you kidding me? This is sick and twisted. I will not stop until they are held accountable."

###